NSRI launch surprise rescue

Six Melkbosstrand National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) members braved misty weather and rough seas last Wednesday night to save two fishermen off the Elands Bay coastline.

The extraordinarily dedicated NSRI volunteers finally managed to bring the fishermen home at 06:00 Thursday morning, just in time to take a quick shower and get to work.

NSRI Melkbos’ station commander, Rhine Barnes, was joined by crew members Bruce Sandmann, Louis Roux, Hein Kohne and first-timers Mardi Valke and Dalene Erasmus when they left for Elands Bay.

Accompanying them was Marnette Meyer, who took a couple of photographs of the rescue.

Says Barnes: “We first got a call from NSRI Mykonos at 18:00 on Wednesday night, asking us to help rescue the fishermen, because their boat was out of service and it would take them (Mykonos) seven hours to get to the scene. I asked our crew to get ready and prepare for a long, cold night. Thirty minutes later we got the call for our assistance.”

The volunteers drove to Elands Bay with their rescue boat Spirit of Vines and arrived there at 21:00.

The fishermen, aged 73 and 45-years-old, first alerted rescue services of their predicament by cellphone.

Their 25 horse powered motor lost died on them somewhere near Elands Bay. The only info they had was that the water was about 20 meters deep and they could barely spot an orange light on the coast. The mist were getting heavier and the waves increasingly choppy.

The NSRI and the local police had lost radio contact with the fishermen, so rescue services had to try and figure out where the fishermen were most likely to be.

By 23:00 they formulated a strategy and launched their boat to start the search.

According to Barnes the freezing cold fishermen were finally spotted about a mile off the coast, when one of the NSRI searchlights reflected off one of the fishermen’s jackets.

After the rescue the Spirit of Vines had to go all the way to Lambert’s Bay for recovery. At 03:00 she reached Lambert’s Bay and then three hours later they finally got back to Melkbosstrand.

Concludes Barnes: “It was the first operational call for Mardi and Dalene and they did exceptionally well!”

The two thank everyone who had a hand in the rescue.

***DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN TYGERBURGER, A CAPE TOWN BASED MEDIA24 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER. IT MAY NOT BE DUPLICATED WITHOUT ACCREDITING THE SOURCE – TYGERBURGER, MEDIA24.***